Tuesday 28 May 2013

Dylan, Nile and Groupies



 
 Drinking a fresh juice which was very yummy in Mbarara. We needed to stop off for a break from driving!



Chilling with Dylan our wonderful car next to a beautiful lake on the drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park!



I made a wonderful little friend who cried when I left, I swear I am going to adopt a child before I come home, they are just adorable!!



We met an American nun who really enjoyed telling us all about everything she was doing. She was very chatty and lived in a fantastic location, I was a little jealous!



Standing in front of the unbelievable African Plains, it was a breath taking experience which I don't think I will ever forget! Just think of all of the elephants, hippos and lions that are wandering around there...




We decided to go for a walk after driving all day. The only thing was we were in the national park where there is lions, then we saw this...scared? VERY!



We clearly went a little mad and decided to pretend to be the animals in the park, this way they wouldn't eat us because we were the same as them!


Cheesy jumping photo, classic!



Our first meal on the road was yummy baguette with various cheeses and hams, it was wonderful!



Lovely security guards who were very happy to get a picture with me. Strange though, because they didn't smile when the photo was being taken.



Groupie with Dylan, I am a fan of the groupies! I took so many during the holiday that it ended with me saying "Groupie!" and everyone I was with running away, sad Jenny!




GROUPIE!



ELEPHANTS! And we found them all by ourselves, damn I was very excited!!




Very happy to stretch the legs and go for a wee walk around the ghost town!



Classic rural Uganda






Classic cheesy Kate, hahahahaha



Holly didn't want to be in the groupie, instead she took it. Therefore it wasn't a really a real groupie therefore I will call it 'oupi' just because I reckon it sounds funny and rather 'indie'



A real groupie, however I had to do some running to get there and then fell when I was walking back to get the camera, just my luck!




Cleaning my leg in the lake after falling over, turns out the water was salty and then my leg wouldn't dry for blooming ages!!




Chilling on an abandoned digger in Katwe, Uganda.



Making dinner on the coal stove in our hotel, because we are cheap and didn't want to pay for dinner!




TIME TO SAFARI!! I cannot believe how excited I was about it, and it was seriously unbelievable!



Eating pineapple and bread for breakfast before going in search of lions, tigers and bears, OH MY! Although we only actually saw elephants and lots of Mpala and Pumbaaas!



Chilling beside a crater lake, living the life!



Sisterly love. We are told by so many people that we look the same, sometimes people just call us both 'Jenny' or 'Kate' maybe one day they will join our names and just call us 'Kanny'.




Such a beautiful view, and no it is not of our bums, it is what is in front I am talking about. Again we are looking out over the wonderful African Plains and of course getting a cheeky wee groupie in there too.



We were amazed that after rising from our beds way too early to have elephants walking right next to us and then crossing across the road right in front of us, UNBELIEVABLE!




Crested crain, the national bird of Uganda, such a magical little bird!



Some wildabeast, some of my least favourites...THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!



HIPPOS CROSSED OUR PATH!!!! I swear I almost died with excitement! It was unreal.




Elephants, LOOK HOW CLOSE THEY WERE!! I just about died with excitement, just unbelievable.



Driving Dylan mad, tehe! Seriously though, it was wonderful driving again. Even if it was an automatic and I felt like I could have been doing it in my sleep, it was wonderful!



The Rwenzories, I still cannot get over how beautiful Uganda is. S-P-E-C-T-A-C-U-L-A-R!



Chilling by the lake, the reflection and sights, again, breath taking. This was just before I decided to go for a power shower...
 



...IN A WATERFALL!!!!!!




Giving ourselves that little bit of luxury we decided to go and relax by a swimming pool in Fort Portal to capture the rays and to have a good hot shower.



Kate and I on our very romantic date to the cinema, we then went for cocktails and some food...young love! Tehe.




GROUPIE!!! Denny, Rachel, Kate, Me, Jen and Hanna all enjoying yummy cocktails in Mish Mash.



Saying farewell to Kate, I will not lie, I felt a little teary having to say goodbye.



A very ugly bird that is found blooming everywhere in Uganda, they are gross! Kate seems to love them but I just cannot handle how gross, big and freaky-looking they are!



Classic little groupie! I managed to persuade the gang to go to the theatre, how was I to know that it was going to be very very VERY bad?! I must admit it was one of the worst shows I have ever been to. We all had a really good laugh though.





One of the wonderful (eek) performances in the theatre, I loved it. He was playing the weird instrument and singing an even weirder song!



Denny did a bunji jump, I thought this was quite a fab photo. She just looked amazing up there however it took her long enough to actually jump!




The reflection of the sunset on the River Nile, jealous? I would  be. I was lucky enough to spend a week up in Jinja where I did white water rafting, which was great fun and a little scary. The sunsets at night were wonderful!



Having a cuddle with my loved one.




They are great lovers of Nile Special, I on the other hand like to drink girly drinks, I tried really hard to drink beer but I just couldn't do it!




Rachel, Denny and myself swimming in the Nile. It was a little dirty, kinda cold but really cool!

Sunday 12 May 2013

The Road Trip, Part 1...a lot happened!

Holy moly, I have been so busy! A ridiculous amount has happened and I have to blog about it, I don't even know how it is going to be possible! I will try to make this as short as possible not only because I don't want you to fall asleep but also because my head hurts and I think I should have nap! 


Okay so ROAD TRIP TIME!!! We were up nice and early on Tuesday 2nd May to head off to Masaka to collect our wonderful little Rav 4 which was later named Dylan. He was a wonderful little guy and when I eventually get the chance to upload photos you can all fall in love with him as well. So, we hopped into Dylan and I drove us out of Masaka towards the wonderful Mbarara! We experienced our first and only traffic cop who just laughed at the photo on my licence and then told me I had a pretty name, lovely guy! After arriving in Mbarara we bought lots of food for our dinner then we headed to a cute little organic restaurant to drink some weird juices and eat some pretty gross food! 

After a whole day of driving we arrived in Queen Elizabeth and after a yummy dinner of baguette and lots of cheese we watched a crappy film and went to sleep, I of course fell asleep through the film because I have somehow lost the ability to stay awake during any movie?!

Up early and off we go, we were headed for Katwe, a bit of a dump but they served milk tea so I was happy. However on the way we saw...ELEPHANTS! We didn't even have to pay any money and BOOM elephants! I have never breaked so hard so fast! It was unbelievably exciting! After sitting staring for a while we soon realised there was a storm on our tail so we decided to hit the road and set off as quickly as we could. Once we had arrived in Katwe we noticed just how bad it was so instead of staying there for a while like planned we only stayed for one night, as did the 40 odd girls who were on a school trip! Needless to say we didn't get that great a sleep because of these girls, but we still had fun.

The next day we set off ready to safari, and safari we did! Although we didn't see many animals we did an incredible crater drive and then had an over-priced but yummy lunch in a fancy hotel. As we were leaving, as gracefully as we could, a little family of warthogs ran out in front of Dylan! It was so cool and unexpected, I was a little over excited seen as they are fellow Pumbas! After filling up on food and fuel we headed back to the first hotel for a comfy and cheap nights sleep ready to get up at 6 for an early morning game drive.

Well, you may think "Why the hell would you get up at 6? Surely all the animals will be asleep..." This is not true! God dammit always get out as early as you can! We we had  been driving for a mere 10 minutes and BOOM elephants start crossing the road in front of us! Then after watching them for half an hour we turn another corner and BOOMBOOM a lioness and her cubs are playing on a rock. Then after a quick pee stop BOOM BOOM BOOM 2 hippos are running along beside the car! This was not only amazing but also petrifying because hippos are in fact one of the most dangerous animals in the park! The morning safari was unbelievable and if I hadn't been there for myself I would not have believed how lucky we were!

Anyway, I will continue this later because I am boiling and feeling a little queezy from the heat so need to go and find some shade! 

All my love

Your Ugandan Girl. X